COVID hospitalizations in New Jersey dipped below 5,000 for the first time in almost three weeks as many of the key coronavirus metrics continue to head downward for the eighth day in a row, statistics released Thursday show. 

Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday that he anticipates lifting his school mask mandate before the end of the academic year if the numbers continue to drop fast as they did in South Africa and the U.K., where the highly contagious omicron variant first hit. 

“I think there’s a real shot at that,” Murphy said on PIX11’s morning news program. “We’re early days in terms of turning the corner but it certainly looks like we’ve begun to turn the corner.”

Murphy’s remarks come nine days since he declared another public health emergency after fellow Democrats in the Legislature refused to grant him authority to renew his mask mandate in schools.

That move came on Jan. 11 when COVID hospitalizations reached a peak of 6,089 — the highest number since the pandemic’s first wave in the spring of 2020. Since Jan. 11, the numbers have been sliding down precipitously.

Hospitalizations have fallen 18% to 4,966 on Wednesday night, with 70 of 71 hospitals reporting. There were 804 COVID patients in intensive care on Wednesday — a decrease of 13% from its high on Jan. 11. The number of patients on ventilators has gone up and done in recent days, with 530 in need of them on Wednesday. That’s still down from the high of 566 on Jan. 15.

Hospitals reported 88 deaths from COVID over the past 24 hours. New reported cases dropped to 8,467 on Wednesday after daily new case counts had ranged between 15,000 to 30,000 around the holiday season. 

Despite the downward trend, Murphy issued one of his more stringent mandates in recent months on Wednesday when he ordered all health care workers and employees of congregate settings, including prisons and group homes, to be fully vaccinated and get a booster shot or face losing their jobs. He also did away with the option for the unvaccinated to be regularly tested for coronavirus in lieu of vaccination. 

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Two major health care worker unions were split on the decision.  

The Health Professionals and Allied Employees union said the mandate could lead to a shortage of doctors and nurses at a time when health care facilities are already stressed with an employee shortage as hundreds of workers remain out sick with COVID. The1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East union said it supports the mandate and believes universal vaccination is the best way to protect workers and speed up a return to normalcy.

Murphy kept his school mask mandate intact through the 2020-2021 school year and relaxed for the last few weeks in June when temperatures began to soar. In June he was going to allow school districts to decide on mask-wearing, but pulled that back two months later after the delta variant spread across the state. 

Scott Fallon has covered the COVID-19 pandemic since its onset in March 2020. To get unlimited access to the latest news about the pandemic’s impact on New Jersey,  please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @newsfallon 

Source: Asbury Park

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